Battle for the Future Kingdom
by Bunny1992
Summary: Set after Galaxia. Challenges await the Sailor Scouts as the ramifications of Galaxia's actions are still needing to be dealt with.


Author Notes: 3rd time lucky. Been a while, but I've finally got a plan for 2 of my multi-chapter stories. Also, editing and not rushing my work has been something I finally learnt to do. Feel free to point out issues but also, enjoy the story 😊 Thank you so much for everyone who is still interested in my writing. Your support has not been unappreciated. Also, random but I remember wishing I had my own cat when I first wrote this chapter. Fast forward a few years and our household has 5 lol

Chapter 1:

Luna yawned as she opened her eyes to the sound of her charge moving around her bedroom. "Serena? What time is it?" She murmured, watching the teenager as she double-checked her desk for any much-needed items for school. Like the homework she had found and was shoving into her bag.

"7.25. Go back to sleep, it's still early. I've put your breakfast in your bowl already, covered with Glad Wrap. I didn't want it to dry out too soon because I didn't know when you'd wake up."

Luna laughed quietly, stretching across the windowsill. The warmth from the early morning sun was almost sleep-inducing. "Your parents must really think you're crazy. One day you're our girl who had to be woken up half a dozen times, the next you're up early *and* even have the time to feed me!"

The blonde smiled as she kissed her mentor on the top of her head. "They've thought that for years. They'll get used to me soon. Eventually they'll forget that I was ever irresponsible. See ya Luna, don't forget-"

"-The meeting's at Darien's. I know. Speaking of, go before he reports you missing."

"Love you Luna!" Serena waved as she left the room.

The cat let her smile drop as she followed the blonde run down the stairs and watched her farewell her family before tearing out the door. _Oh Serena, how long can you keep this act up that you're maturing due to age? Even your parents can sense that you're not ok. _

Luna didn't miss the concerned gazes exchanged between Irene and Ken and pretended to not listen as she went over to her food bowl next to the table. It always amused her that no one in the Tsukino household thought it was strange that Luna always managed to carefully remove the plastic covering from her bowl, especially when it somehow always ended up in the bin.

"She's early again, that's the third week in a row!" Sammy exclaimed in shock. "I thought for sure that she was just going through a phase, last time she did that it only lasted a day."

Irene smiled at her 12 year old son, but Luna could hear the underlying concern in her voice. "It's a good change, honey. We always wanted her to take school more seriously. Speaking of school, shouldn't you be leaving right about now? You need to work with Mika for your school project don't you?" Sammy's eyes widened at being reminded about their project and he quickly stood up, grabbed his bag and took off out the door.

The Mauan wasn't the least bit surprised when Irene sat down next to Ken the moment the door closed. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that she heard her communicator start beeping upstairs. Cursing her excellent hearing, and the timing, Luna reluctantly left her breakfast and ran up the stairs.

"Ken, we need to do something. Serena is acting too….perfectly. I can sense something isn't right, yet she's doing everything we always expected of her. It's like….she does not want to give us a reason to think something is wrong. I can't place my finger on it, but something is bothering her and it has to be something that happened three weeks ago. Surely."

Ken nodded, agreeing with his wife that something was not right. His eyebrows furrowed as an uncomfortable idea occurred to him. Something that may just explain their daughter's sudden behaviour. "She has also been in a hurry to leave in the mornings, yet she's not running late to school. She hasn't started to love school either, so I doubt she's studying. Irene, has she mentioned a boy lately?" He asked, hesitantly.

Irene looked at him, confused at his seemingly random question. "No, she hasn't. Why?"

"Don't you think that's a little unusual? She used to talk about one boy or another, be it someone from school, a celebrity, a student in her class. I don't like it, but she used to be boy-crazy, remember? When was the last time she came to you and gossiped about her latest crush?" Ken was clearly uncomfortable, but he felt like he was on the right track. Meanwhile, realisation slowly dawned on the black cat on where the conversation was going.

Irene stared at a spot on the table, thinking back to the last time she had spent time gossiping with her daughter about girly topics. Or even just spending time together. Suddenly she realised where her husband was going with his questions. "You don't think…? She would've told me, surely? Serena always told me about her crushes."

Ken was not happy. His baby girl was going out with some boy, and for some unknown reason she had never told even her mother about him. A sickening feeling came over him. "Irene, when was the last time she told you about a crush?" He demanded.

"Year 8, so about 2 years ago," was the immediate reply. Irene was troubled. "Come to think of it, that was when Serena started to change."

"Do you happen to remember the last boy she mentioned liking?" Ken asked. "It's a long shot, but maybe he's the one who has dared to corrupt our baby girl. Or introduced her to someone who has."

Irene stood up and started pacing the kitchen. "It was someone older, someone she saw almost daily. Oh…what was his name…?" She stared hard at the kitchen bench, trying to recall the last few times she and her daughter had discussed boys. "Began with …N. No! An. Anthony?"

Ken could tell it didn't sound right to Irene. "Antonio? Anand? Andre?"

Irene shook her head at each suggestion, but froze when he said the last suggestion. "Andrew!" She exclaimed, and her gut feeling told her that she was right.

Ken rubbed his hands together. "Fantastic, we have a potential name. Now we're getting somewhere. If he was older, he has more than likely left school to go to high school, but that's a start." He glanced at the clock and sighed. "I need to go. I'll ring you during the day if I come up with a plan to find out who it is. Don't worry darling, we'll hunt him down and do whatever it takes to bring our baby girl back to us," he growled.

Meanwhile…

Serena tore down the pavement, dodging pedestrians with ease as she made her way to the Arcade. She had worked out that if she left home early enough, she could fit in more time with her boyfriend, Andrew and get to school on time. Which meant avoiding detention and therefore having even more time to use to spend time with her favourite people in the world. Occasionally study time was squeezed in thanks to Amy and Darien.

"Oof!" She exclaimed, feeling like she had just run into a wall. She grinned at the feeling of familiar, strong arms holding her securely to said wall. Serena stood up on the tips of her toes to kiss her saviour. He was all too willing to receive his morning greeting and reward. Darien pulled away from her when air was desperately needed and smiled softly at his soulmate.

"Just like old times, hey Meatball Head?" He asked softly as he took her school suitcase from her limp hold.

The blonde smiled dreamily, then giggled when she had processed what he had said. She grabbed his hand as they turned to walk towards the Arcade. "Almost, I like how we greet each other now compared to back then. Although, I can only imagine what would've happened had you done that back then rather than insult me like a child."

Darien rolled his eyes. "I'm fairly sure you would've screamed at me, hit me with your bag and then ensure that Andrew banned me from the arcade. It's not like we were on the best of terms."

Serena looked up at him in confusion. "You say that like you actually thought about it." Her eyes widened when he blushed and looked around, anywhere but at his shocked girlfriend. "You had!" She accused him, before looking thoughtful.

Darien looked at her, silently questioning what she was thinking. Serena caught his eye, laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck. "Honestly, I think you're right. I would like to think that we would've ended up together earlier if that had happened, but we were both so clueless to our feelings I think we never would've figured it out."

Darien removed his hand from hers and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to bring her closer to him. "Don't worry Sere, we're together now and not even death could keep us apart permanently," he whispered the last part into her ear, and felt her shiver from the close contact.

Serena wrapped her arm around his waist, the reminder of her loss causing her to seek physical reassurance that her true love was indeed real. "I know, but to think about the time we wasted…such a complete waste!" She moaned out of despair, thinking about the missed opportunities due to their youth. Darien moved his head down and kissed her, causing her moan to change from one of sadness to one of desire. They missed the sound of her school case being dropped as they wrapped their arms around one another, holding each other close as they made out against the wall of the arcade.

The presence of her guardians went unnoticed, as they reacted to the unexpected sight of their royal charges losing their sense of propriety. Until Lita and Mina's wolf whistles were loud and sharp enough to break through the dreamy haze they were both in. The couple's heads snapped around to see the pair of mischievous teenagers giving them a thumbs up, while Amy looked mortified and Rei simply rolled her eyes.

They stepped away from the wall and straightened up their clothing in an attempt to look more presentable. Darien collected the suitcase he'd been holding, as he attempted to regain some semblance of composure yet failed. Serena on the other hand was beaming as she ran to her friends. The group of girls chattered amongst themselves as they walked into the arcade, Darien walking in behind them.

"Good morning!" Andrew greeted them cheerfully. The group of superheroes returned his greeting before moving to sit at their regular table. He came over to the group to take their orders, then returned to the kitchen to get their orders ready. Serena snuggled against Darien, enjoying every moment of spending time with him.

"So…" Everyone turned to Mina as the usually cheerful girl trailed off, her tone of voice uncharacteristically serious. Her eyes were focused on the napkin she had started to pull apart in her hands.

Rei's eyes were sympathetic as she placed her hand on Mina's. "That's what the meeting after-school is about. We're not giving up. They are out there somewhere, I can feel it-them. We just need to find the right way to find them."

Lita sighed, resting her chin on her hand. "What if they don't remember? Or don't even want to be found? They-they might have already started new lives, and have no room for us in them."

Serena gaped at her, shaking her head in denial. "No way! Fate couldn't be that cruel! There has to be a reason why we are getting our full memories back."

Darien frowned, thinking about the stones that had fallen silent around 2 years ago. Wishing that he had tried to communicate with his generals after they had supported him through the horrid illness. There was no way of knowing when their souls had left the stones, and he was not going to break the girls' hearts by revealing that they had had an opportunity to see their former lovers. Darien mentally punched himself in the head for not revealing the truth earlier.

"Rei's right guys, I don't have her psychic powers but even I can sense that something has changed." Her hand moved over her heart. "I can feel *something* here, something is telling me that they are now in existence, and we need to find them just like we found each other."

"They weren't in our future though, we could be chasing ghosts," Darien winced as his girlfriend punched him in the arm. Hard. "I want them to be alive and found, but we need to be prepared for the possibility that we're not going to get the reunion we desperately want."

"Thank you Andrew!" Mina chirped as Andrew brought over their breakfast. Once he had gone, Mina looked at everyone with a determined stance that reflected her role as leader of the sailor scouts. "We're in agreement though, right? We're going to keep trying to find them?" She looked at everyone in the eye.

"Of course we are. I'm just putting it out there that we need to be prepared for the worst." Darien reassured her.

"Good!" The blonde exclaimed, then gasped as she looked at her watch. "Oh my goodness, it's 8.05, we need to finish quickly. School starts in 20 minutes!"

The sombre mood dissipated as the group scoffed down their breakfast, the morning's antics had taken up far more time than they had realised.

So, feel free to give feedback. Not going to promise anything aside from no more rushed chapters. There will inevitably be mistakes, so please point them out politely. I'm on holidays for a while yet, so there will be a new chapter sooner rather than later. Until next time, stay safe!


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